The government has updated its guidance calling for second staircases in all new tall residential buildings over 18 metres – further enhancing the UK’s world-leading building safety standards, it says.
The change in guidance adds to a package of recent fire safety measures and reforms including the Building Safety Act which ensure the safety of people in both new and existing tall buildings.
Existing tall buildings are also being considered as part of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry’s recommendations. The Home Office is currently considering responses to their consultation on personal emergency evacuation plans, to which a response will be published in due course.
Lee Rowley, Minister for Housing, said: “The change in guidance to include two staircases for buildings over 18 metres provides clarity for developers and ensures both new and existing buildings provide safe and secure homes for all residents.”
Following a public consultation, the government announced last year its intent to set a threshold height of 18 metres above which a second staircase should be provided in residential buildings – a change which reflects views of experts including the National Fire Chiefs Council and Royal Institute of British Architects.
This was followed in October by confirmation of transitional arrangements which set the timeframe for the new regulations and strike a fair balance between giving developers enough time to make the required changes, while also evolving our safety standards as swiftly as possible.
The transition period also provides clarity for developers during a difficult economic climate and projects previously held up at the planning stage can now go ahead with certainty.
The Housing Forum welcomed the long-awaited technical guidance on second staircases in tall buildings.
It said it has been aware of many sites that have stalled because of the lack of information around what exactly is required (such as the maximum distance permitted between flat entrances and the staircases) .
Publication of the technical details was therefore extremely welcome and will allow many stalled sites to resume - following redesign. Clarity over the purpose of the second staircase and explicit statement from government that there may be situations when the ‘Stay put’ advice may need to be over-ridden is very helpful.
The transitional arrangements in theory allow buildings to be built to the current single-staircase requirements until September 2026. However, in practice this is unlikely to happen as planning permission is not being granted on single staircase buildings.
Anna Clarke, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at The Housing Forum said: “The Fire Service has been objecting to planning applications that do not include a second staircase ever since the consultation was launched back in December 2022. In the absence of technical guidance, this has meant that many tall buildings recently have been designed to a more stringent specification than is in fact going to be required. We don’t expect to see many – if any - single staircase buildings starting to be built during the 30-month transitional period.
“Improved safety of residents in tall buildings is extremely welcome, However, we would like to see the Government do more to mitigate the costs of the second staircases particularly for the affordable housing sector. The additional build costs and loss of floorspace have created viability problems on some sites, and a loss of affordable housing on others. Funding is needed for the social housing sector to offset these costs. We would also like to see local planning authorities encouraged to be flexible over redesign and changes in height in order to accommodate a second staircase in all tall buildings without reducing the number of new homes provided.”
RIBA Chair of Board Jack Pringle said: “Almost seven years on from the Grenfell Tower tragedy, the Government’s official guidance for second staircases in new residential buildings over 18 metres is welcome.
“This marks a crucial step towards a safer built environment for all. It falls short of requiring a second fire-fighting shaft, which our consultation response called for, or evacuation lifts, both of which are vital for emergency evacuation and fire-fighting operations.
“We continue to work with the Government and the wider construction industry to demand changes to deliver safer homes. Safety must be our number one priority.”
